New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-31
TIE "GANGS" IN POLITIC&

1t Is SAID, In reply 10 Int eApiosoiVh Va oo
lief that the police onght to wipe out the
gangs of roughs in this O ty. that the police
cannot do this because 90 many OF the roughs
possess political "pulls.' AM find favor with
the Police Justices, who will not hold them
save for serious offences and not always then.
Unhappily this Is no new comp mt, but III
Is one which Is OF so serious character thai
the public ought not to pass it over indlffer-
emily. "Politics makes strange bed-fe lows
is an old adage. and indicates the antiquity
OF many Of those meonods Of compsr ON and
adjustment which are SO full oil snares ana
pitfalls for the unwary, and OF opportunities
for the unscrupulous. But any conceivable
kind of understanding between magistrates
and members of the criminal classes must be
treason to the people. and no real or imag-
ined partisan inquiry can for a moment pall-
ate that. If any Pol ce Justice uses his posi-
ton to deliver ruf1ians from the penalties
they have earned, there can be no question
| that such a Police Justice ought to be re-
moved from the bench and punished with a
severity which would operate as warning.
That is the plain truth of the situation, and
it is time the public realized and lived up to It,
1t is a worse discredt to the people them
selves than to any one else when they tolei-
alto such abuses. If a great community
Astounding in all forces, whe her OF intellect,
knowledge. Judgment wealth and physical
power. submits to such bngandage as the
gangs practice; allows these org nized scoun-
drels to defy the laws and to make whole
streets and quarters unsafe; when the people
allow this to 60 on because they are too In
dolent and too busy to care whether Ju uce
is corrupted or not; they have no right to
complain of the Consequences, whatever they
are. Now the nolitical power Of the gangs
in the police courts is an old story. IL has
for wears been notorious that the political
heads and "bosses' of the regions infested
by them-mostly saloon keepers, Aldermen
and such people-make a regular business OF
attending the police courts in der to pro
tect the Interests" of the criminals who arc
their clients. 1t Is not less no orious that GER
tam of the Police Justices arc believed to be
virtually at the disposition OF IN Sc "bosses.
That is to say, it is believed that they SIT,
not to admin ster the law as they are sworn
to do, but to obey the directions OF men who
represent o. ganzed and pro essiona opposi-
ton to the law 1t is shameful, AN abomin-
able state of things, but there Is only too
much evidence for the re lty OF it.
Outside of Persia or Turkey there Is GER
tainly no country where the announcement
that the police were prevented from protect
ing the public by the tleachery OF the Police
Justices would be received with oqu nimIty.
Under the loose and corrupt aimn sirauon
Of Turkish Pachas one expects such failures
of Justice But what is to be said when the
same things happen in New York when
brigands flourish at our sides. sheltered By
the authorities who ought to be their scourge
" hen the police are obliged to excuse then
inability to break up these gang, OF danger
Gus outlaws by alleging that they cannot get
the rullians punished after they are arrested
What ought to be is plain enough. The
police ought to be made by Super .ntcndcnt
Murray to 60 straight ahead and break mp
every gang in the city, regardless OF conse-
uuenccs. Then if the infamous "pull' sys-
TEN was resorted to again, and if any Of the
Police Justices vie ded to the pCl tical pres
sure, they ought to be indicted and punished
with the severeSt penalties applicable But
the abuse is hoary and the public conscience
calious. New-York has put up with so much
in the past that it takes a very flag ant
wrong now to rouse her. Yet this is fragrant
wrong It really goes to the bottom OF oui
capacity for self-goveInmcnt, for the qucs-
ton underlying il is whether we can govern
ourselves in a civilized and efficient way, or
whether in order 10 maintain partisan strength
and readiness we are compelled to surrender
some of the simplest and most necessary
rights and privileges of the citizen.